In order to monitor conditions of an aircraft, a large number of sensors are mounted on the aircraft. Those sensors detect and collect massive data of aircraft condition such as acceleration, air speed, altitude, airfoil configurations, external temperature, cabin temperature and pressure, engine performance and so on. The important component on an aircraft for collecting and processing data of aircraft condition is DFDAU (Digital Flight Data Acquisition Unit). All data of aircraft conditions collected by sensors or transmitted from relevant devices are sent at least to DFDAU of the aircraft.
DFDAU is an integrated airborne data acquisition and processing system. At first, DFDAU comprises a data acquisition subsystem, which is used for collecting real-time data of aircraft condition from each sensor on an aircraft, and converting the obtained data into digital signals and storing the same into QAR (Quick Access Recorder), a data recorder of aircraft condition. Second, DFDAU also comprises a data processing subsystem, such as ACMS (Aircraft Condition Monitoring System). ACMS is capable of monitoring aircraft condition according to data collected by DFDAU in a real-time manner. When certain trigger logic is satisfied, ACMS generates a corresponding message. A message may contain certain data of aircraft condition.
Messages can be displayed by an airborne display, printed by an airborne printing device, or stored in data disk so as to be used by flight crew or maintenance personnel during a stop over or after a flight. Messages can also be transmitted via airborne ACARS (Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System) to ground SITA receiving station by using VHF, HF, satellite transceiver and other devices, and be transmitted to a terminal computer of an airline company.
A message is triggered by a threshold value of a certain parameter of aircraft condition or combinational logic of multiple parameters of aircraft condition. Such logic is referred to as message trigger logic. The message trigger logic has to undergo strict test before determining whether it can work with accuracy and high efficiency. For those traditional test methods, after the trigger logic and a message have been decided, they have to be loaded into an aircraft in operation and wait for occurrence of a specific event which triggers the logic and generate the message. And, one can then test whether the trigger logic and message are correctly written. However, the probability that the anticipated event repeatedly occurs is unpredictable. It might take several months to several years to test the accuracy of the trigger logic or a message, which is hard to accept. Therefore, there is a need in the field an independent test platform that allows test of message triggers of aircraft in a virtual environment.